Photos: 250,000 miles and almost 17 years

[trinacriabob]

Hey, I was pretty wowed to make it to 200,000 miles on the original powertrain. I am ecstatic to have made it to 250,000 miles on the original powertrain! The reliability of this 3800 V6 equipped car has been incredible.

Odometer turning over to 250,000 miles - Lake Tahoe (NV side) - 12/13/2008

Exterior view of the car upon returning to CA the next day - 12/14/2008

Edited December 22, 2008 by trinacriabob

[the_yellow_dart]

Congrats. It looks very well kept as well.

[gm4life]

Holy craps that is clean.

[Intrepidation]

Congrats and I also am impressed by how clean it is. Most of the ones I see are beat to hell and rusting. Keep it up!

[gmpartsgirl]

Helz yeah!! Congrats, beautiful car!! Love that 3.8 bullet proof little engine!!

[Robert Hall]

Congrats! Still looks sharp. Some friends put about 140k miles on a '91 2dr before they traded it on a Volvo 850 wagon back in '02.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Go for 300!

[Robert Hall]

Has that been a one owner car?

[trinacriabob]

vonVeezelsnider:

I just might...at any rate, it'll be somewhere between 250K and 300K.

Moltar:

Yes...I am the original owner, getting it at the end of a masters program (May 1992)

Thanks for all the kind words about the car.

[Brougham-Holiday]

The body looks like it has 50k on it, no rust or major damage. What trim model is that Regal?

[trinacriabob]

The body looks like it has 50k on it, no rust or major damage. What trim model is that Regal?

It's the basic Custom model and it has the no-cost cloth bucket seats.

The car has only been titled in the Pacific states (all of them), so it has seen hot summers, rain and little snow/ice.

[Robert Hall]

It's the basic Custom model and it has the no-cost cloth bucket seats.

The car has only been titled in the Pacific states (all of them), so it has seen hot summers, rain and little snow/ice.

My friends' car was kind of greenish blue, w/ a matching cloth interior..bench seat IIRC. They had it and a '91 Grand Am 2dr, they bought them together when they graduated from college, after getting married..their first new cars. Kept both for 10 years, well over 100k on each. Alas, neither of them have GMs anymore---they have an '05 Volvo XC wagon and a '07 BMW 535Xi wagon now... (since they have 2 dogs but no kids, they need 2 wagons, I guess).

[regfootball]

holy crap the condition of that thing is amazing. wow! perfect color too!

honestly, i've always wanted one of those regals. i remember when those came out, and i read the articles about it in car and driver over and over. in my mind, the original 2 door w bodies were stunning cars, each one. i knew so many people with grand prixs it was amazing.

i loved the dash in those regals.

they said GM built cars no one wanted in the 80's, however, many of those cars I love, aside from their quality issues. in my mind the w bodies were bold, daring, and efficient.

Edited December 16, 2008 by regfootball

[ocnblu]

Your Regal looks great, Bob. Keep on Truckin'!

[daves87rs]

Good looking car there!

[Oracle of Delphi]

Damn Bob, that thing looks better than you do, and you have the same mileage too.

[Paolino]

Congrats Bob--looks great! I wish my paint job held up like yours! The interior is in good condition (albeit, the painted "wood" around the switchgear on the doors is rubbing off), but the exterior is faded all over.

[A Horse With No Name]

Holy craps that is clean.

And silver is a wonderful color for it, also. I've posted before about how good the 60's GM stuff looks in Silver...this is proof modern GM cars look good in silver.

I like this almost as much as the Solstice Targa in silver...and that's saying something.

Beautiful car, Bob! Thanks for taking care of her.

sixty-Six

[A Horse With No Name]

Congrats Bob--looks great! I wish my paint job held up like yours! The interior is in good condition (albeit, the painted "wood" around the switchgear on the doors is rubbing off), but the exterior is faded all over.

You might try getting it buffed at a body shop. I got my Safari van buffed when it faded out, and it still looks good.

The secret is waxing the car every 3-4 months with good wax and keeping it washed once you get it buffed.

I got the van done for $125, which wasn't bad. The guy that buffed it buff's/rubs out cars like Lexus, Benz, Cadillac, etc....he did a nice job.

Since your car is smaller, and you live on Long Island perhaps the two factors would blance each other out, and you could get a similar deal.

Good luck!

Chris

Edited December 21, 2008 by 66Stang

[A Horse With No Name]

holy crap the condition of that thing is amazing. wow! perfect color too!

honestly, i've always wanted one of those regals. i remember when those came out, and i read the articles about it in car and driver over and over. in my mind, the original 2 door w bodies were stunning cars, each one. i knew so many people with grand prixs it was amazing.

i loved the dash in those regals.

they said GM built cars no one wanted in the 80's, however, many of those cars I love, aside from their quality issues. in my mind the w bodies were bold, daring, and efficient.

They built some cool stuff on the W body chasis, for sure.

Chris

[ZL-1]

Very tidy-looking car! Congrats on the 250K miles, Bob!

[Oracle of Delphi]

They built some cool stuff on the W body chasis, for sure.

Chris

Yes they sure did.

[RoadmaSSter]

Congrats! Not really a big surprise though. Here's to many more miles with it!

[Sixty8panther]

Fantastic. Julie's MB 500SEC just turned 201,000 the other day.

[Robert Hall]

Fantastic. Julie's MB 500SEC just turned 201,000 the other day.

Cool...the 500SEL aka 'Big Dog' turned 177,000 last week.

[A Horse With No Name]

Like I said before, Benz is the longest lasting car on the road, 19.7 years average.

I would give you a figure for Kia, but my stopwatch broke....

Chris

[2005 EquinoxLS]

And they say GM cant make cars that last. Had a1984 Buick Park Avenue that had 260,000 miles a few years ago. It drove and rode really nicely yet too. A/C didnt work and the cruise control didnt work either. But everything else did.

[trinacriabob]

Had a 1984 Buick Park Avenue that had 260,000 miles a few years ago. It drove and rode really nicely yet too. A/C didnt work and the cruise control didnt work either. But everything else did.

Today I decided I'm going for 300,000 miles. I penciled out the big item maintenance intervals (tune up, brakes, trans fluid change, serpentine belt) and, hoping there are no major unforeseen items (praying, crossing fingers), it seems to be doable. But it's mostly because today, as I drove to Grass Valley, CA and Nevada City, CA some 30 miles north of I-80, coming toward me was (1) a 95 or 96 Regal coupe (with the all body-color bumper system) in silver, and (2) a 91 or 92 Regal Limited coupe in the darker gray...within 15 minutes of each other.

[deftonesfan867]

Epic. Beautiful car Mr. Roberto.

[DBeaSSt]

Congrats on quite a milestone! Let's see another 50K!

[mustang84]

Nice Regal Bob. It looks great after having so many miles put on it.

[ponchoman49]

I am not surprised at all how nice the condition of your car is or the 3800 going 300K miles. I have personally seen numerous late 80's and 90's GM 3800 powered cars such as W-bodies, H-bodies and even G-bodies go well over the 300K mark on the original engine. Folks that lambast 80's and 90's GM products are more than likely going by the smaller cheaper Cavaliers or Grand Ams that ate head gaskets or had interiors that didn't hold up well over time. My good friend has had a used car dealership since 1977 and has sold nothing but GM's and the occasional Ford or Chrysler transported from PA or other Southern states. 200-300K mile LeSabres, Regals, Park Aves, Olds 88's/98's and Bonnevilles are a common site to me and well maintained examples still have very clean bodies and the interiors clean up with the occasional steering wheel respray, new floor mats and maybe a power window/lock switch bezel swap out. One car that really stood out to me was a 1998 Olds 88 LSS with 397K miles showing on it's digital odometer. It was a green one owner car with all the paper work stuffed in the glovebox on repairs/oil changes and tires etc. Other than a reman tranny at 200K, 2 alternators, one water pump, replaced upper and lower intake at 100K, new struts at 200K, tons of oil changes and many sets of tires the car it'self was amazing. You would swear it had 60K miles the way it drove, no squeaks or rattles and that amazing 3800 still ran perfect and pulled you back in the seat. The interior was in nice shape and the seats looked better than most cars with under 100K! The body had no rust or dents and wasn't faded. The owner drove the car for about a year because it had those comfortable Aurora buckets seats that all LSS cars carried in those years and found the car very comfortable. He finally sold the car with 433K miles to a customer for $900.00 and I believe that car is still in operation to this day.

[trinacriabob]

I am not surprised at all how nice the condition of your car is or the 3800 going 300K miles.

Other than a reman tranny at 200K, 2 alternators, one water pump, replaced upper and lower intake at 100K, new struts at 200K, tons of oil changes and many sets of tires the car it'self was amazing. You would swear it had 60K miles the way it drove, no squeaks or rattles and that amazing 3800 still ran perfect and pulled you back in the seat.

He finally sold the car with 433K miles to a customer for $900.00 and I believe that car is still in operation to this day.

Thanks. I'm definitely going to try for 300K ... only 47K to go. The driver's door exterior handle gave out last night...the kind that's up in the door pillar. Oh well. But, right, mechanically, it drives like a car with 75,000 miles, especially on the freeway.

[daves87rs]

We'll be cheering for ya....

[MyerShift]

What a lovely Buick!

[§carlet §wordfish]

Congrats on the milestone! Hope you have many more happy miles in it.

That's my favorite Regal body style. You've kept it in very nice shape. As impressive as the generation before it was, I think it was uuuuuugly.

Edited February 18, 2009 by §carlet §wordfish

[XP715]

Congratulations on your milestone; I just hit the quarter-million mark in my Suburban yesterday.

Somebody needs to document all these high-mileage domestics out there to show all the Jap/Euro nerds that think they don't run after 40K.